chapter 12 quiz
The phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present means the less likely each individual is to help someone in distress is called:
the bystander effect.
The Focus on Neuroscience box, "Brain Reward When Making Eye Contact with Attractive People," described an fMRI study in which participants were scanned while looking at photographs of different faces, some looking directly at the viewer (eye-contact) and some looking away (non-eye-contact). What did the results of this study show?
When we make eye contact with an attractive person, the brain area that is associated with the expectation of a reward shows increased activity.
Your textbook discusses a number of problems associated with stereotyped thinking. Which of the following is one of those problems?
Once formed, stereotypes are very hard to change.
_____ is the tendency of people to believe that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.
The just-world hypothesis
Person perception follows some basic principles. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
Your reactions to others are not determined by your perceptions of them but rather by who or what they really are.
According to your textbook, an attitude is formally defined as:
a learned tendency to evaluate some object, person, or issue in a particular way that may be either positive, negative, or mixed.
Person perception is an active and subjective process that always occurs in some interpersonal context. Every interpersonal context involves:
all of these factors.
During a discussion about junk food with her two adolescent children, Mrs. Kozena made it very clear that she thought junk food was disgusting and that it upset her to see her children eat it. Mrs. Kozena's negative feeling about junk food best illustrates the _____ component of attitudes.
emotional
The belief that one's own culture or ethnic group is superior to all others and the related tendency to use one's own culture as a standard by which to judge other cultures is called:
ethnocentrism.
Sandra makes a conscious, deliberate decision about each of her new clients based on her perception of their overall appearance, how well they are dressed, how old they are, what gender they are, and so on. In this case, Sandra is using _____ in categorizing her new clients.
explicit cognition
In relation to factors that influence perceptions, deliberate, conscious mental processes are to _____ as automatic, non-conscious mental processes are to _____.
explicit cognition; implicit cognition
Frank, who is an engineering student, thinks that his fellow engineering students are really a very diverse bunch of individuals. It appears that Frank views his in-group as being quite:
heterogeneous
When Eileen told her father that someone had stolen her new cell phone at school, he said that she should have known better than to take her phone to school. "It was bound to happen," he said. This example most clearly illustrates:
hindsight bias.
The automatic non-conscious mental processes that influence perceptions, judgments, decisions, and reasoning are called:
implicit cognition
A(n) _____ is defined as a network of assumptions or beliefs about the relationships among various types of people, traits, and behaviors.
implicit personality theory
The tendency to judge the behavior of the members of your group more favorably than the behavior of members of other groups is called:
in-group bias.
The social group to which a person belongs is called the _____, and the social group to which a person does not belong is called the _____.
in-group; out-group
Relying on social categories:
is a natural, adaptive, and efficient cognitive process that provides us with considerable basic information about people.
Psychological research has shown that resisting the direct orders of an authority figure:
is more likely if two or more people join in resisting or disagreeing with the authority's orders.
Harrison is a handsome young man. Other people are most likely to perceive him as being:
more intelligent, happier, and better adjusted than other people.
The performance of a behavior in response to a direct command is called:
obedience
The Focus on Neuroscience box, "Brain Reward When Making Eye Contact with Attractive People," described an fMRI study. The results showed that when we make direct eye contact with a physically attractive person, a specific area on each side of the brain area is activated. When the attractive person's eye gaze is shifted away from the viewer, activity in these areas decrease. Other researchers have expanded on these findings and identified two brain areas that are selectively responsive to the reward value of attractive faces, the _____ and the _____.
orbital frontal cortex; amygdala
A term that refers to the mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of others is _____.
person perception
While researching a term paper, Marcie read some interesting research on the mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of others. Marcie was reading research about:
person perception.
The Focus on Neuroscience box, "Brain Reward When Making Eye Contact with Attractive People," described an fMRI study. The results showed that when we make direct eye contact with a physically attractive person, a brain area called the ventral striatum is activated. When the attractive person's eye gaze is shifted away from the viewer, activity in the ventral striatum decreases. The ventral striatum is the brain area that:
predicts reward.
An important social psychology concept is your sense of _____, which is an individual's unique sense of identity that has been influenced by social, cultural, and psychological experiences.
self
The tendency to attribute successful behavior to internal, personal characteristics is to _____ as the tendency to blame ourselves for our failures while downplaying our successes is to _____.
self-serving bias; self-effacing bias
Dr. Strayer investigates the mental processes we use to make sense of our social environment and form judgments about the characteristics and motives of other people. Dr. Strayer is most likely a(n) _____ psychologist.
social
The chapter Prologue describes how Fern labeled the man sitting on the steps with a cup in his hand as "homeless" on the basis of very limited information, which led her to make an embarrassing mistake. This is one disadvantage of using:
social categories.
When Raphael was in the elevator, he couldn't help but notice a man and a woman in conversation. He decided that the woman in the suit was probably a college administrator and the gray-haired man in the glasses was probably a professor. Raphael was engaged in a process called:
social categorization.
As a student majoring in psychology, Hannah is interested in how we form impressions of other people, how we interpret the meaning of other people's behavior, and how our behavior is affected by our attitudes. Hannah's interest most closely resembles an area of social psychology called:
social cognition.
The study of the mental processes people use to make sense of their social environment is called:
social cognition.
According to your textbook, _____ is an area of social psychology that studies the effect of situational factors and other people on an individual's behavior.
social influence
Dr. Krane studies questions such as why we conform to group norms, what compels us to obey authority figures, and the conditions under which people will help a stranger. Dr. Krane's research focuses on an area of social psychology called:
social influence
Dr. Krane studies questions such as why we conform to group norms, what compels us to obey authority figures, and the conditions under which people will help a stranger. Dr. Krane's research focuses on an area of social psychology called:
social influence.
After Michael studied the chapter on social psychology, he decided to try an experiment. He wanted to see how people on a half-empty bus would react if he politely asked someone to move so he could have a particular seat. But when Michael boarded the bus, he found he was just too embarrassed to carry out his experiment. Michael's behavior appears to be governed by:
social norms.
Pamela observes that people don't sit next to strangers on the subway when there are empty seats available. She notices this also happens on the bus, in the movie theater, and in the cafeteria. Pamela's observations suggest that people's behavior in these situations is governed by:
social norms.
The "rules," or expectations, for appropriate behavior in a particular social situation are called:
social norms.
The branch of psychology that studies how a person's thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the presence of other people and by the social and physical environment is called:
social psychology.
Half the female participants were told that males typically did better than females on the math test they were about to take, and the other half were told that the test did not produce gender differences. The first group scored lower on the test than did the second group. These results are explained by a phenomenon called:
stereotype threat.
The tendency, after an event has occurred, to overestimate one's ability to have foreseen or predicted the outcome is called:
the hindsight bias.
The tendency to see members of out-groups as very similar to each other is called:
the out-group homogeneity effect.
The bus is fairly crowded when you get on. You make a rapid evaluation and quickly decide to sit next to a well-dressed senior citizen because you think that it will be safer to sit next to him than some of the other people on the bus. This example illustrates:
the process of person perception.
Person perception is an active, interactive, and subjective process that always occurs in some interpersonal context. Which of the following is NOT one of the key components that influence that process?
the rule of reciprocity
When Ainslie did poorly on the physics midterm exam, she blamed her low score on the unfair exam and the lousy professor. But when the final grades in the course were curved and she received an A-, she concluded that she had a real talent and mental capacity for logical scientific thinking. This example illustrates:
the self-serving bias.
In social psychology the concept of sense of self is important because:
the sense of self is influenced by social, cultural, and psychological experiences, and it plays a key role in how we perceive and react to others.
Being aware that your social group is associated with a particular stereotype can negatively impact your performance on tests or tasks that measure abilities thought to be associated with that stereotype. This is a description of:
the stereotype threat.
_____ is to how we interpret the meaning of other people's behavior as _____ is to how our behavior is affected by situational factors and other people.
Social cognition; social influence
The textbook defines _____ as a cluster of characteristics that are associated with all members of a specific social group, often including qualities that are unrelated to the objective criteria that define the group.
Stereotype
In the process of person perception, we initially form a very rapid first impression based largely on looking at other people's faces. According to the textbook, if you glanced at a stranger's face for only one tenth of a second:
you could evaluate the other person's attractiveness, likeability, competence, trustworthiness, and aggressiveness.
According to your textbook, an important social psychology concept is your sense of self, which involves:
your sense of identity that has been influenced by social, cultural, and psychological experiences.
While they were shopping, 6-year-old Elliot came running around one of the store aisles and excitedly asked his mother if she would buy him a $299 Microsoft Xbox 360 game console to use with their television at home. When his mother immediately refused, Elliot looked very dejected but apologized for asking. A few moments later, Elliot asked, "Well, can I get a new basket for my bicycle?" Clever Elliot appears to be using the _____ technique to persuade his mother.
) door-in-the-face
Conformity is defined as:
Adjusting your opinions, judgments, or behavior so that it matches the opinions, judgments, or behavior of other people, or the norms of a social group or situation.
Which of the following is a basic principle involved in person perception?
All of these are involved in person perception.
_____ refers to the phenomenon in which the presence of other people makes it less likely that any individual will help someone in distress because the obligation to intervene is shared among all the onlookers.
Diffusion of responsibility
_____ is defined as a negative attitude toward people who belong to a specific group.
Prejudice
There is a cognitive basis to prejudice and often an emotional component as well. When prejudice is displayed behaviorally it is called:
discrimination
The mental frameworks we hold about traits and behaviors associated with different types of people are called:
schemas
Social psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses on a broad range of topics. According to your textbook, the two key research areas in social psychology are:
social cognition and social influence.
After 20 minutes of waiting outside the baggage claim area for your friend to pick you up, you decide to go inside the airport terminal and phone her. Standing a short distance from you is a kind-looking older woman. "Would you mind watching my luggage so I can go make a quick phone call?" you ask politely. "I'd be happy to watch it for you," she replies, "my ride is not coming for another half-hour." When you return less than five minutes later, the old lady and your luggage (including your laptop) are gone. This example illustrates one of the problems associated with:
an implicit personality theory.
Social psychologists have found that we are most likely to behave in accordance with our attitudes when:
attitudes are formed through experience, and we have a vested interest in the subject.
Research has found that physically attractive people tend to:
be less anxious in social situations.
Leslie is concerned about the environment and consistently sorts her garbage by placing paper, plastic, metal, and glass in their respective recycling containers. This example best illustrates the _____ component of attitudes.
behavioral
Kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom in the middle of the night, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was held captive for over nine months by a drifter and his female companion. When police finally found her and the details of her captivity were widely publicized, some observers publicly questioned why the girl never tried to escape or get the attention of the police. Such responses illustrate an attributional pattern called:
blaming the victim.
Attitudes
can have cognitive, behavioral, and emotional components.
In a seminar discussion on the death penalty, Bertha said she believed that the ultimate penalty should be applied to the ultimate crime of murder. Bertha's statement best reflects the _____ component of attitudes.
cognitive
Before Jackie left for college, she told her friend Lisa that she thought sororities were filled with snobs and that she would never consider joining one. But during Jackie's first week on campus, she was approached by a sorority member who invited her to a social function and encouraged her to pledge. After Jackie attended the party, she told Lisa, "Sororities do a lot of good things for the community. They're really service organizations." Jackie's change in attitude to match her behavior reflects which of the following concepts?
cognitive dissonance
When people experience an unpleasant state of psychological tension resulting from two inconsistent thoughts or perceptions, they are said to be experiencing:
cognitive dissonance.